FERA at Seville Film Festival 2020: Building a Future for Filmmakers and the Audiovisual AV Industry in Europe – 12 November

13 November 2020

The panel Europa 21: Como seguir siendo cineasta hoy (Europe 21: How to Continue to Be a Filmmaker today) organized by FERA Spanish member ACCIÓN, took place on 12 November, part of 17 Seville Film Festival’s section Basado en hechos reales (Based on a True Story). The segment aimed at reflecting on the uncertainty of current times and the state of European cinema as well as debating the reconstruction of the cinema and audiovisual sector in Europe post-COVID-19.

Documentary director and ACCIÓN’s FERA delegate Floreal Peleato Sellas moderated the panel which gathered director, screenwriter, producer and ACCION President Juan Vicente Córdoba, director and screenwriter

FERA CEO Pauline Durand-Vialle talked about the immediate and serious threat that the COVID-19 crisis poses to the vast majority of European filmmakers who risk losing creative and artistic freedom in addition to looming unemployment and poverty. The accelerated rise of global steaming platforms while local industry infrastructure are severely hit is a major concern for the European community of filmmakers, whose creative space is shrinking even further. It will be essential to insist with decision-makers across Europe for a timely and faithful implementation at national level of recent European legislation such as the 2018 AVMS Directive and the 2019 Copyright Directive, in order to give local audiovisual creation a fighting chance in the aftermath of the ongoing crisis.